At first, there was fear and panic induced by an invisible and dangerous virus that spread like wildfire across the globe. Once confined to our homes the panic changed into an on-going anxiety and worry about our family, friends, self and an uncertain future.  Checking ourselves, our family and our newsfeed became the norm. But anxiety isn’t the only way we naturally protect ourselves from danger. When we can no longer run to escape a threat, we hide from it.

In order to hide successfully for a period of time, our bodies need to slow down and withdraw from activity, akin to hibernation. Inactivity and loss of motivation is one of the hallmarks of low mood or depression. Being isolated from others and cooped up in our homes indefinitely is a risk factor for becoming down and depressed, primarily because our activity and social interaction is limited. 

Have you found your creativity slipping away, binged too much on Netflix, found it hard to fit exercise in, or slept in too much? Gloomy thoughts may also be arising and adding to the despair you feel with the situation. Perhaps you are more irritable and frustrated than usual, which reflects the third element of threat protection, anger that often sits with depression and anxiety. 

This is why it is so important to maintain a routine of activities that are necessary, routine and pleasurable in a physical and/or mental sense. Planning the next week in advance, scheduling in a mixture of these activities is the behavioural goal-oriented activity for depression of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), called Behavioural Activation.

Despite the awful mood that greets you on waking, it is really important to act not on how you feel (which may mean getting straight back into bed or skipping your daily exercise), but to use your rational head to guide your actions knowing that you will feel better on doing something that is helpful to you. This will produce a sense of achievement, but also doing something that has meaning to you will produce enjoyment. Connection is another beneficial goal of the doing activity, but we need to be creative in this situation and if possible use technology to help us connect through phone calls, Zoom, Whats App etc. Finding the will and the way through personal agency in setting and achieving goals in areas that we can influence, underpins the positive motivational state of Hope and hopeful thinking, which can also come into its own when crisis strikes. 

Using Behavioural Activation

Step 1: Identifying Activities.

Split a piece of paper into 3 sections, each section titled one of the following: Routine, Necessary, Pleasurable.  List the different types of activities under the relevant heading.

Routine activities are things that you do regularly such as washing, dressing, cleaning, doing the laundry, walking the dog, calling

Necessary activities are very important and for which there is a consequence if they are not done, such as paying bills, managing finances, insurance, looking after children or animals.

Pleasurable activities are either things you know you enjoy doing and give a sense of personal meaning or new things you think you would like to try. These are very individual.

Examples are: Reading, playing on the computer, exercise, playing board games, knitting, repairing, baking, creating art, photography, gardening etc.  

Note: If you are just looking for ways to remain active and don’t need them to be stepped in difficulty then skip steps 2 and 3. Plan your weekly diary with a varied and achievable selection from the three columns and move to Step 4.

Step 2: Organise the activities into an order of how difficult they are (least, medium, most difficult) in a new list of three sections.  Each section will include a mix of the 3 types, eg least difficult section may include washing and dressing from routine activities, looking after the cat from necessary and reading a magazine from pleasurable.

Step 3: Plan into your diary of the coming week some of the activities from the least difficult section initially and make sure there is a variety from the Routine, Necessary and Pleasurable columns. Work your way up to including activities from the medium to most difficult lists.

Step 4: Put the planned activity into action. 

Step 5: Review what worked well after the first week and note what was harder to do.  Don’t expect too much or be too hard on yourself if you didn’t achieve it all, but amend the following week to be more realistic.

Tips:

·       Rather than your normal diary you may want to print out a weekly planner type format and stick it to your fridge.

·       Try not to overload one day, spread activities out.

·       Be specific when describing your chosen activity as this engages your sense of setting a goal.

“Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.”

— Benjamin Disraeli